To enjoy Thailand River cruises, you need to understand a little about the geography of Thailand and its river system. Sessue Hayakawa really did accidentally strike Alec Guinness hard enough to draw blood in one scene. His first epic was his twelfth film: The Bridge on the River Kwai, starring Alec Guinness and William Holden as P.O.W. Thanbyuzayat is in Myanmar. Two bridges were built, the first made of wood. Thanbyuzayat was originally a POW administration headquarters and base camp. They were calling it the Death Railway. The Japanese did indeed force British, Dutch, Australian, and American prisoners to build the Burma Railway, resulting in some 13,000 POW deaths and at least 80,000 civilian deaths. [citation needed], Julie Summers, in her book The Colonel of Tamarkan, writes that Boulle, who had been a prisoner of war in Thailand, created the fictional Nicholson character as an amalgam of his memories of collaborating French officers. (There were other verses, too, which treated in more depth the number, location, and status of Hitler's anatomy, but you get the idea.) [54] Slant magazine gave the film four out of five stars. With William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa. Allied soldiers had built a church and a hospital on the site where the cemetery now sits. The film won seven Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Guinness), not to mention a handful of Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and even a Grammy nomination for its soundtrack. Only in 1984 did the Academy rectify the situation by retroactively awarding the Oscar to Foreman and Wilson, posthumously in both cases. Despite the discomfort the rest of the crew were experiencing, Lean was thrilled about the shoot and never complained about his living conditions. Under cover of darkness, Shears and Joyce plant explosives on the bridge towers. American casualties were repatriated back to the United States. Please select which sections you would like to print: Pat Bauer graduated from Ripon College in 1977 with a double major in Spanish and Theatre. Read more. Warden, Shears, and two other commandos parachute into Thailand; one, Chapman, dies after falling into a tree, and Warden is wounded in an encounter with a Japanese patrol and must be carried on a litter. The Bridge of the River kwai It is a tourist attraction of Kanchanaburi. [41] According to Variety, the film earned estimated domestic box office revenues of $18,000,000[42] although this was revised downwards the following year to $15,000,000, which was still the biggest for 1958 and Columbia's highest-grossing film at the time. This meant that some of the British prisoners were actually natives of the region wearing make-up to appear Caucasian. Initial estimates from Japanese engineers suggested it would take five years. Roger Ebert focused on the symbolism of the bridge in this 1999 description: "[The war] narrows down to a single task, building a . Nicholson undertakes the construction of a well-made bridge, at first thinking it a good way to improve the morale and discipline of his regiment but gradually coming to regard the structure not as a part of the enemy war effort but as a monument to British ingenuity. Aerial reconnaissance photo of the Steel Bridge taken during a bombing raid. The movie won seven Academy Awards, one for Best Picture. According to Columbia Pictures, they followed an all-new 4K digital restoration from the original negative with newly restored 5.1 audio. Just two months later, Lieutenant Lamb was dead. Nicholson forbids any escape attempts because they were ordered by headquarters to surrender, and escapes could be seen as defiance of orders. The movie garnered seven Academy Awards, including that for best picture, as well as three Golden Globe Awards and four BAFTA awards. The line passing through the scenic Three Pagodas Pass runs for 250 miles. The elephants employed in helping build the bridge would take breaks every four hours and lie around the water, whether the crew wanted them to or not. Also, in the novel, the bridge is not destroyed: the train plummets into the river from a secondary charge placed by Warden, but Nicholson (never realising "what have I done?") 18. Disease was a huge killer among railway workers, but so was brutality. Starring Alec Guinness, it depicts the struggles and defiance of Japanese prisoners of war building the fictional Burma railway between 1943-44. David Lean himself also claimed that producer Sam Spiegel cheated him out of his rightful part in the credits since he had had a major hand in the script. Also, the dense surrounding jungle renders escape virtually impossible. The building of Bridge 277, the eponymous bridge that gave Leans film its name, was overseen by 2,000 British and Dutch prisoners of war. Toosey in fact did as much as possible to delay the building of the bridge. Starring Alec Guinness, William Holden, and Sessue Hayakawa, among others, it paints an . She recommended Lean to producer Sam Spiegel, who'd been turned down by Fred Zinnemann, William Wyler, and Carol Reed, and offered the directing job to Lean as a last resort. Laughton was in his habitually overweight state, and was either denied insurance coverage, or was simply not keen on filming in a tropical location. The negative itself manifested many of the kinds of issues one would expect from a film of this vintage: torn frames, embedded emulsion dirt, scratches through every reel, colour fading. He had basically retired when Lean approached him to play Colonel Saito in Kwai, a performance that earned Hayakawa an Oscar nomination. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle.Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942-1943, the plot and characters of Boulle's novel and the screenplay are almost entirely fictional. Please note the delivery estimate is greater than 10 business days. Alec Guiness, William Holden, and Jack Hawkins in front of bridge they built in a scene from the film 'The Bridge On The River Kwai', 1957. Jun 7, 2011 - New on Blu 6-7-11: Studios unload nearly 70 titles. Thanbyuzayat continued to be used as a POW reception centre to reinforce work parties along the Burma-Siam Railway. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics. Has two but they are small. Real Bridge on the River Kwai. He is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial, Malaysia. Be the first one to write a review. As shown in the movie, Guinness played the scene without flinching. Its a charming, idyllic spot, belying the intense horror and suffering the men who built it went through. The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting Facts About The Bridge On The River Kwai: Fascinating Facts About The Bridge on the River Kwai - Kindle edition by Randolph, Amanda. The movie has been included on the American Film Institutes list of best American films ever made. Its telling that the railway workers had to see to their own medical care. As the train approaches, Nicholson frantically pulls up the wire, following it to find the detonator. At all. This film is produced by Sam Spiegel, and the music is composed by Malcolm Arnold for . The Bridge on the River Kwai was selected in 1997 for preservation in the National Film Registry. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . But in 1966, the film aired on American . [65], On 2 November 2010 Columbia Pictures released a newly restored The Bridge on the River Kwai for the first time on Blu-ray. No visit to the Western Front is complete without a trip to The CWGC Visitor Centre. The British Film Institute placed The Bridge on the River Kwai as the 11th greatest British film. Spiegel had it refurbished completely and then had one mile of railway track laid for it. [31] He strongly denied the claim that the book was anti-British, although many involved in the film itself (including Alec Guinness) felt otherwise.[36]. In fact, there were two: one a wooden railway bridge and the other a ferroconcrete structure built using imported bridge sections from Japanese-controlled Java. Basically, the bridge was built during World War II when the Japanese occupied Siam (now Thailand) and neighboring Burma (now Myanmar . The movie is based on the novel "Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai" by Pierre Boulle. Around 90,000 forced labourers are thought to have died building Death Railway. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a British 1957 World War II film by David Lean based on the novel The Bridge Over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle. It was not long before the Japanese army overrunning Java captured Lieutenant Lamb and his men. The railway route, which ran through Burma and Thailand, had been planned by the British. Toosey was very different from Nicholson and was certainly not a collaborator who felt obliged to work with the Japanese. To learn more about the men behind the real story of the Bridge on the River Kwai, and to discover the casualties, please use our Find War Dead tool. Lean wanted Charles Laughton (who'd starred in his 1954 film Hobson's Choice) to play Colonel Nicholson, the role that ultimately went to Alec Guinness. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Victory over the Japanese navy at Midway in June 1942 had created a turning point in the Far East and Pacific. The movie garnered seven Academy Awards, including that for best picture, as well as three Golden Globe Awards and four BAFTA awards. The Bridge on the River Kwai was actually one of the reasons movies started becoming prime-time television programming. The casualties of the Burma-Siam railway were often buried in camp burial grounds located close to where they originally fell. It was the highest-grossing film of 1957 and scooped up seven Academy Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor. The British soldiers were slaves; they did not help the Japanese. "[50] Kaplan further praised the actors, especially Alec Guinness, later writing "the film is unquestionably" his. Laughton would die (of cancer) five years later, at the age of 63. Following the raids, Thanbyuzayat was evacuated. 60,000 or so Allied prisoners of war, including British, Australian, Dutch and some US troops, alongside more than 200,000 civilian labourers were pressed into service. [16], Director David Lean clashed repeatedly with his cast members, particularly Guinness and James Donald, who thought the novel was anti-British. Guinness, however, had his own reservations. The rest were made of wood and local materials. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI takes place in Japan-occupied Siam (later Thailand) in 1943, after the Imperial Japanese Empire has conquered vast territories of Asia. Despite this, he won an Oscar and a Grammy. Along with 1,250 other POWs, he died while in transit from Singapore to Japan aboard the Rakuyo Maro transport ship after it was torpedoed by a US submarine. Today, he rests alongside his fellow POWs in Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery in Burma (Myanmar). Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Written 20 October 2021. By the way, the real Kwai River was just a trickle near Burma, where Boulle set his bridge; the actual bridge had been built 200 miles away, near Bangkok. The Colonel Bogey March" was composed in 1914 by Kenneth Alford, a military band conductor. Kanchanaburi, in Myanmar border, is home to the famous Bridge River Kwai. The train crashed into a generator on the other side of the bridge and was wrecked. [5][6] It has been included on the American Film Institute's list of best American films ever made. 16. The place: Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma. Want to work for the CWGC? Image: Bridge 277 aka the real Bridge over the River Kwai, Image: The iconic poster of the 1957 classic. Its this structure, Bridge 277, that still stands and is a famous local tourist attraction. The Bridge on the River Kwai, commonly referred to as the Railroad of Death or Death Railway, which stands in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, was one of only eight steel bridges of the estimated 688 that were built. At one point during filming, David Lean nearly drowned when he was swept away by a river current. Instead of the five year predicted completion, the bridge on river Kwai, was completed in 16 months. At their head was Lieutenant-Colonel Phillip Toosey. In the meantime, Shears manages to escape. [39], The major railway bridge described in the novel and film did not actually cross the river known at the time as the Kwai. Colonel Nicholson, arrive at a Japanese prison camp in Thailand. Find the latest updates on the work of the Special Committee. However, in 1943 a railway bridge was built by Allied POWs over the Mae Klong river renamed Khwae Yai in the 1960s as a result of the film at Tha Ma Kham, five kilometres from Kanchanaburi, Thailand. "[47] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". He, Shears, and Joyce reach the river in time with the assistance of Siamese women bearers and their village chief, Khun Yai. As Australian Brigadier Arthur Varley put it: The Japanese will carry out their schedule and do not mind if the line is dotted with crosses.. 7. 22. The action of the movie takes place in a Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in . They felt none of the Bridge on the River Kwai cast could fully understand or represent what it was like to be there. (He didn't attend the Oscars, either.) The region was seized by the Japanese in 1942, and they then set about making preparations . As Ashton explained, it was so cheap because "we used local labor and elephants; and the timber was cut nearby.". Young: "Donald, did anyone whistle Colonel Bogey as they did in the film?" From iconic memorials to local churchyards, there is unique heritage to explore across Great Britain. $ 3 million (estimated) The Bridge on the River Kwai is a British 1957 movie from Columbia Pictures, based on Pierre Boulle 's 1952 book The Bridge over the River Kwai ( French: Le Pont de la Rivire Kwai ). 2023 Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Bridge On The River Kwai is an Epic war-based film. The River Kwai, also known as Khwae Noi or Khwae Sai Yok is a river located in the western region of Thailand. Answer (1 of 7): David Lean made some excellent films His Dickens films of the 1940's are classic black and white versions of OLIVER TWIST and GREAT EXPECTATIONS He discovered color and the wide screen in the 1950's and 1960's Besides BRIDGE, Lean also did LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DR ZHIVAGO Peo. rainy day Therefore, there are not many people. This story is retold in: Anecdotal Tit Bits: Making "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "links for research, Allied POWs under the Japanese", "The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the Bridge on the River Kwai", "The Colonel of Tamarkan: Philip Toosey and the, "Once-Stupendous-Now-Modest $2,700,000 Budget Kept Secret; 'River Kwai's' Sockfull Gross", "Screen: 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' Opens", "Film Reviews: The Bridge on the River Kwai", "Balu Mahendra, who made his visuals speak, dies at 74", "Warren Buffett carries an American Express card and about $400 in cash", "How Cartrivision's 1972 VCR ForesawAnd ForfeitedThe Time-Shifted Future", "Movies | Disc & Digital | Sony Pictures", "Wayne and Shuster Show, The Episode Guide (19541990) (series)", Lost and Found: The Story of Cook's Anchor, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Drama, National Board of Review Award for Best Film, New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Bridge_on_the_River_Kwai&oldid=1138405911, Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award-winning performance, Films featuring a Best Drama Actor Golden Globe winning performance, Films that won the Best Original Score Academy Award, Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award, Films whose director won the Best Directing Academy Award, Films whose director won the Best Director Golden Globe, Films whose editor won the Best Film Editing Academy Award, Films whose writer won the Best Adapted Screenplay Academy Award, Films with screenplays by Michael Wilson (writer), United States National Film Registry films, World War II films based on actual events, Short description is different from Wikidata, Album articles lacking alt text for covers, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Best DVD Original Retrospective Documentary/Featurette, Online Film & Television Association Awards, This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 14:21. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting . Nicholson spots the wire and brings it to Saito's attention. Sign-up for free daily emails with the latest news about British culture, heritage, and history! 16- "You make me sick with your heroics! comment. Over a muddy jungle river called Kwai, a Japanese colonel, Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), must complete a railroad bridge vital to Japan's war effort. An example of this is when commandos Warden and Joyce hunt a fleeing Japanese soldier through the jungle, desperate to prevent him from alerting other troops. [12], William Holden's deal was considered one of the best ever for an actor at the time, with him receiving $300,000 plus 10% of the film's gross receipts. (Spiegel got a British military adviser to help with that side of things, too.). The cemetery was established by the Army Graves Service to hold casualties made along the railways southern Bangkok to Nieke section. The young soldier from Suffolk was dispatched to work on the bridge over the River Kwai, one of the railway's most daunting engineering projects. Find out how you can apply to become a CWGC Volunteer. British English: The Top 50 Most Beautiful British Insults, British Slang: Your Guide to British Police Slang for the Telly Watcher, British Slang: Tea Time British Words for Tea and Tea Related Culture, ltimate List of Funny British Place Names, 101 Budget Britain Travel Tips 2nd Edition, Great Britons Book: Top 50 Greatest Brits Who Ever Lived, Anglotopias Grand Adventure Lands End to John OGroats. In 1942 Japan seized Myanmar from British control and quickly decided to build a rail link to Thailand in order to maintain a secure supply route to their forces. Express 08:30, 10:30. [50] Edwin Schallert of the Los Angeles Times claimed the film's strongest points were for being "excellently produced in virtually all respects and that it also offers an especially outstanding and different performance by Alec Guinness. 26. [66] The original negative for the feature was scanned at 4k (four times the resolution in High Definition), and the colour correction and digital restoration were also completed at 4k. Parts of the Burma-Siam railway still stand. But he'd never made anything on an epic scale, wasn't well known outside of England, and wouldn't have been considered for The Bridge on the River Kwai if it weren't for Katharine Hepburn, the star of his 1955 film Summertime. Did he really want the enemy to come in across it? Just a stone's throw from the Menin Gate, visit our Information Centre to learn more about the CWGC. Bangkok - Kanchanaburi More info / Tickets. Guinness had appeared in Lean's Dickens films but had since made a name for himself doing goofy comedies like The Lavender Hill Mob (1951). The Bridge On The River Kwai Film Facts. When Columbia Pictures read the script for Kwai, it was concerned that the story was too much about men and had no love interest. POWs and indentured labourers were worked to death while busy constructing the railway simultaneously. In a prison camp, British POWs are forced into labor. The process of adapting Pierre Boulle's French-language novel Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai was difficult (more on that later), but the two writers ultimately responsible for it were Carl Foreman (High Noon) and Michael Wilson (A Place in the Sun). According to one biographer, he was "broke and needed work; he had even pawned his gold cigarette case." They built a railway to link Bangkok to Rangoon. "The Bridge on the River Kwai" was set in 1942, shortly after the fall of Singapore. Kwai's composer, Malcolm Arnold, wove the march into his Oscar-winning score so seamlessly that modern viewers may assume it was original to the film. Thanks to the film, the Bridge, situated in the Thai town of Kanchanaburi a couple of hours drive from Bangkok, is one of Thailand . This Oscar-winning epic is part of movie folklore and widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever so I really wanted to see the area where director David Lean shot it way back in 1957. He'd just been through a costly divorce from actress Ann Todd. Questions or feedback on our new site? The real Bridge over the River Kwai is bridge 277 of the Burma-Siam Railway. Copyright 2020 Tons Of Facts. Lean feared Guinness' public persona had changed so much that audiences wouldn't buy him in this very dramatic role, but came around to the idea when the Laughton plan didn't work. Both writers had to work in secret, as they were on the Hollywood blacklist and had fled to the UK in order to continue working. 10. Just as in Love is a Many Splendored Thing, normally hairy chested William Holden had to have a full body wax for his many shirtless scenes in the movie. Take a look below for 28 more fun and interesting facts about The Bridge on the . David Lean, a British director then in his late forties, had made 11 films, including well-received adaptations of Charles Dickens (Great Expectations, Oliver Twist) and Noel Coward (Blithe Spirit, Brief Encounter). So Spiegel hired another writer, Calder Willingham, to give it a crack. [56] Warren Buffett said it was his favorite movie. [61][62], In 1972, the movie was among the first selection of films released on the early Cartrivision video format, alongside classics such as The Jazz Singer and Sands of Iwo Jima. Like Chungkai and Kanchanaburi, Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery was originally part of the camp set up serving the Burma-Siams construction. Reviews There are no reviews yet. [3] The cast includes William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and Sessue Hayakawa. The cemetery itself is located just outside the town of Kanchanaburi at the point where the Kwai splits into the Mae Khlong and Kwai Noi rivers. The screenplay was based on French author Pierre Boulle"s 1954 novel of the same name. But in Bangkok I was told that David Lean, the film's director, became mad at the extras who played the prisonersusbecause they couldn't march in time. Has no balls "[52] Harrison's Reports described the film as an "excellent World War II adventure melodrama" in which the "production values are first-rate and so is the photography. [27] Gavin Young[28] recounts meeting Donald Wise, a former prisoner of the Japanese who had worked on the Burma Railway. During WW II, Japan constructed the meter-gauge railway line from Ban Pong, Thailand to Thanbyuzayat, Burma. Warden responds that he already knew and that the US Navy had agreed to transfer him to the British SOE with the simulated rank of Major to avoid embarrassment. That evening, the officers are placed in a punishment hut, while Nicholson is beaten and locked in an iron box. Tooseys men stated this never happened. He insisted that Lean add a scene where Shears, the American played by William Holden, cozies up to a nurse (Ann Sears). 9. [11] Guinness admitted that Lean "didn't particularly want me" for the role, and thought about immediately returning to England when he arrived in Ceylon and Lean reminded him that he wasn't the first choice. Showing the impact of disease on the workforce, Kanchanaburi contains two graves holding the ashes of 300 Cholera victims. Since it first graced the silver screen won the admiration of audiences everywhere and continues to do so. When he asks for Saitos help in cutting the wires, the hidden commando, Lieutenant Joyce (Geoffrey Horne), leaps up and kills Saito. The screenplay was instead credited to the novelist, Boullewhich was quite a feat, since he didnt speak or read English. [50] William Holden was also credited for his acting for giving a solid characterization that was "easy, credible and always likeable in a role that is the pivot point of the story". This way, he remained oblivious to the real nature of his characters fate. Nicholson will not cooperate and finally insists that the bridge can be built only under his command. Weill you be in London for the Coronation in 2023? The Bridge on the River Kwai is now widely recognized as one of the greatest films ever made. The Bridge over the River Kwai met its fate in 1945. On another occasion, they argued over the scene where Nicholson reflects on his career in the army. 6 Interesting And Awesome Facts About Dondokomon From Digimon, 20 Amazing And Fun Facts About San Bernardino, California, United States, 26 Fun And Fascinating Facts About The Gods Of Egypt Movie, 15 Interesting And Fun Facts About Napa, California, United States, 20 Interesting And Amazing Facts About National City, California, United States, 15 Interesting And Fascinating Facts About Needles, California, United States, 15 Interesting And Amazing Facts About Nevada City, California, United States, 15 Amazing And Interesting Facts About Newark, California, United States. California Doubling: The film is set in Thailand, but was filmed in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), a distinction the publicity of the time didn't see fit to make clear.Instead, it raved about the movie being shot in Ceylon in a way which implied the real-life River Kwai was located there. It would be a massive undertaking. Kanchanaburi is served by a rail service from Bangkok Noi . Goering The key sites containing Thailand and Burma war graves related to Death Railway and the Bridge on the River Kwai are: Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is located a short distance from the former Kanburi POW camp. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a British 1957 movie from Columbia Pictures, based on Pierre Boulle's 1952 book The Bridge over the River Kwai (French: Le Pont de la Rivire Kwai). Get information about our funding, our Customer Charter and our Strategic Plan. Thank God that I'm starting work tomorrow with an American actor (William Holden). David Leans 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai is regarded as one of the all-time great war films. Victims were cremated and their remains are buried in the aforementioned graves. Nicholson objects, informing Saito the Geneva Convention exempts officers from manual labour. Leadership Analysis: The Bridge On The River Kwai. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma. The bridge construction is going badly, however, and Saito offers concessions to Nicholson in an effort to get the structure completed on schedule. For the scene when Colonel Nicholson emerges from the oven after several days confined there, Alec Guinness based his faltering walk on that of his son Matthew Guinness when he was recovering from polio. Highly competent work is also done by William Holden, Jack Hawkins and Sessue Hayakawa". At the end of the day, the officers are imprisoned, and Nicholson is thrown into the ovena small box made of corrugated metal. In January 1943, a base hospital was organised to care for sick and injured prisoners and labourers. Wise: "I never heard it in Thailand. These issues, running throughout the film, were addressed to a lesser extent on various previous DVD releases of the film and might not have been so obvious in standard definition.[67]. This records the names of 11 Indian army men buried in Muslim cemeteries throughout Thailand whose graves could not be maintained. International shipment of items may be subject to customs processing and additional charges. The actual bridge on the River Kwai is located in Thailand, and stretches over a part of the Mae Klong river, which was renamed Khwae Yai (Thai for big tributary). Its construction came about because Japan needed another supply route to link Singapore and Malaysia to its possessions in Burma following Singapores fall in February 1942. Casualties commemorated at Chungkai are mostly men who died in the field hospital set up by prisoners. All Rights Reserved. The documentary itself was described by one newspaper reviewer when it was shown on Boxing Day 1974 (The Bridge on the River Kwai had been shown on BBC1 on Christmas Day 1974) as "Following the movie, this is a rerun of the antidote."[37].